Surprise Package

On Friday I found in my letterbox a notice that I had missed a courier delivery. I had the whole weekend to wonder what it might be, as I hadn't ordered anything and wasn't expecting any deliveries. This morning it arrived:

A fascinating book that hasn't even been published yet. It is due out some time in November. So why did I get an advance copy?

The answer is on page 143:

That's my picture of a citrus gall, as seen on this blog in June. The publishers asked if they could use my photo, and the book (which will retail for $45) is my reward.

This is the second time one of my photos has been published (the previous one is here). It is a fun side of blogging that I never anticipated!

Adjustments

A couple of months ago I saw the Lily dress on the Tessuti blog and loved the look of it. However, when I made a toile to test the neck and sleeve fitting, I wasn't happy with the effect on me. On the model, it is obvious that the shoulder seams sit high up on the shoulder, but perhaps because my shoulders are fairly broad, on me that meant lots of excess fabric bunching up under my arm and vertical wrinkles on the outer part of the sleeve as the top of the sleeve was pulled up over my shoulder to meet the bodice. When I tried to take a picture of that I discovered how difficult it is to photograph your own shoulder!

To test how much extra fabric I needed in the shoulder area to cover my shoulders comfortably, I unpicked the stitching and let the fabric sit without pulling. That gave me a gap of about 3cms between the seam-lines. Here's a blurry shot showing that this is another thing that is very difficult to photograph:

I adjusted the pattern based on this experiment. I tried various options for adding the missing fabric, but in the end I split the difference, adding half to the bodice pieces, and half to the sleeve. You can see the added bits on the pattern pieces below:

And here's the best shot I could get of what that looks like when they are sewn together:

Not exactly like the original in look, but much more comfortable, with no bunching or pulling. I'm not sure about that wrinkle on the front, it may have been due to how I was standing to take the photo. Of course I didn't notice it until I saw in on the screen.

After two toiles, I think now it is time to jump in and cut my linen fabric.

Local Democracy Day

Queuing at a local primary school to vote in the council elections:

Getting into the school wasn't easy. There were twenty-four candidates, and each of them seemed to have at least two people handing out how-to-vote cards gathered around the gate.

Baby magpie as proof that it is spring even though it was so cold today:

Later I did a bit of weeding and tidying in the garden, and finished my shirt.

Not Broken

Chickened out of doing the buttonholes on my shirt today, when this happened on the practice one:

I've broken needles, but I don't remember ever bending one quite like that before!

Sleeves In

Just the buttonholes and buttons to do.

Moving

After dark tonight, one of the captured swarms took a short car ride and was placed on top of the hive in my back yard. The existing hive has no queen in it, so all the bees will eventually die out.

When that happens, the new hive on top will replace it. For now, you might just be able to see a few of the new bees venturing out once their entrance was re-opened after the journey.

Collar

The blouse I'm making is nearing the final stages.

I just need to set-in the sleeves, then it will be time for the scary buttonholes.